MGM Springfield is holding firm to an eviction deadline at the end of this month for an inmate treatment center in the city’s south end. The building is in the footprint of the company’s planned casino.
MGM now owns the building where the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center operates. The Hampden County Sheriff oversees the center, and while MGM Springfield President Mike Mathis says he’s worked closely with the sheriff to find a way to relocate the facility, he says the center must be out by March 31st, “give or take a few days, which we’ve offered to the sheriff.” Mathis says. “If we had a plan in place that we understood, we’d be willing to juggle some things, but we’re getting pretty close to that critical period.”
The sheriff’s office has requested about 4 million dollars from the state gaming commission to help relocate. But Commission chair Steve Crosby says the sheriff needs to submit an updated request, with a plan for where the treatment facility would move. That’s after the developer for a new space abruptly pulled out of the project last month.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s department says the office is “working diligently and earnestly on a plan and a solution.”